I hope that someone can help me!? Lennart.Sorth has been very helpful but he also tells me to post my questions here and see what i can find out.

I have an Espace J63 model, someone reversed into the side cracking the glassfibre panels etc the insurance wrote the car off, but i would like to buy "her" back for fixing and maybe changing the body shape slightly etc!I know someone with a JE model and i wonder about taking moulds etc , is the galvanised chassis the same "shape" to accept the later model panels?

Has anyone other than Williams F1 made a wider body kit for the espace? or even a camper van? very different i know!

But the body panels are very thin! I used to work for a kit car company and know how glassfibre mat panels are moulded etc but they are much thicker and have an unfinished "inside" unlike the matra panels...

Hi, the panels on the espace are not made from fibreglass but moulded GRP (glass reinforced plastic) and other composite materials, which is why they are smooth on the inside too. My guess would be you can only buy replacement panels from Renault if any are available. I have had a door skin replaced that was cracked. You actually glue or bond the panels onto the door frame - any decent body shop will know how and possibly where to obtain panels. If its one of main side panels - they will be very dear and not easy to come by which is possibly why your insurer wrote the car off. I would ask your renault dealer.

The F1 espace was a complete one-off and did not use even much of the original chassis as the engine is actually in the centre rear of that car - it was basically a spaceframe. It must have cost a small fortune to make. Definitely unlimited budget stuff. I heard it was more than £300,000 all in excluding the engine, but thats just a guess by someone who worked for the F1 team at the time they 'knocked it up'.....

To my knowledge no one makes body kits - too few of the original vehicles ever made. You can't chop bits off an existing car as you'd have to damage them too much for them to be of any use afterwards. Only sensible solution is to talk to your renault dealer and find out how much the panel costs and then find a bodyshop willing to fix the thing. I have heard a main side panel for a Mk3 is over £2000. I've heard of a Mk3 JEO espace being written off because a rear tailgate cost more to replace than the car was actually worth!!

I am not too sure of the model numbers for the espace, but I have a 1999 model, that I bought for spares, and if the photo of the espace in your blog is representative of the car which sustained tha damage, then the shell I have is a match, even down to the same colour, silver.I have been storing it because I have a 2.2dt grand espace, and I thought it might come in handy should my car need some bits, but it is now getting in the way, so if your interested in a complete shell just let me know.